Wired to the MAX!

Peter is making great progress on his Sign Challenge piece. He’s now finished glazing and aging the top section and has moved on to the wiring. It is amazing to see how the addition of the various coloured wired changes the piece in such a dramatic fashion. The wires ties everything together beautifully and give the impression of incredible detail.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Sign Challenge progress

Peter has now finished the sculpting on his Sign Challenge piece and has moved on to the painting process. It is looking pretty amazing!By the end of day tomorrow he should be into the glazing and aging process.

My piece has most of the base colours finished but we still have to do a little sculpting on one small element. Once that is painted we will move on to the aging and glazes.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Arms and legs

Each time I get a few minutes I add more pieces to the Sign Challenge piece. It is largely hand sculpting at this point. The latest additions are the rocket legs and the rocket engine.

The piece is a parody of the sign making industry and makes commentary on two long standing issues. The first is the old time ‘snapper’. This itinerant sign painter would travel from town to town and snap up the good jobs, much to the chagrin of the local tradesmen. Our sign maker is such a worker, only he travels from planet to planet. He also uses the latest computerized sign making equipment, the boon of all old school sign makers in the galaxy.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Starting the sculpt of the vehicles

Once the accurately routed vehicle forms are securely anchored in place, it is relatively easy and quick to apply thin coat of sculpting epoxy and sculpt in the fine details. The character armatures are first built from twisted wire, over which I press on a little sculpting epoxy to form the basic shape. Once cured a final layer is again pressed on and the details are sculpted in.

The motor cycle was first along with the form for the girl hanging on the back. I roughed her out first and then after she was complete moved to the fellow driving.

The delivery van was next on the agenda.

In the final two pictures we can see clearly how the pieces are quickly coming together and how everything relates to each other. It is a tight envelope to work in! The rocket in the middle will be the next section to be sculpted as access to that area is getting tougher as things proceed.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Building the vehicles – part four

When we left off the vehicle was looking pretty good but now it was time to start in on the customization to make four different vehicles.

The vehicles would be a pickup, a long flatbed truck and a short flatbed cab over. Behind the bar were three round corner rectangles. I selected them and made them into a 1″ tall relief.

For the pickup I stretched it vertically to just below the convertible cab.

Then I used the subtract tool to make a hole in the box and in the process a floor for the bed of the pickup.

For the cab-over (Stubby nose truck) I didn’t stretch the back vertically as much.

For the last truck I stretched the back vertically so it became the box for a delivery van.

For the motorcycle I first shortened the width of the base. Then I created two vectors – an oval and the other a sort of egg shape. The headlight is one off of the other vehicles. These were made into a relief using the dome tool.